bravery

SAFETY

~ Che ~ 9 Comments

What fear is it that colonises us as we advance and infects us with the thirst for safety? Why, how does it conquer us? Why do we yield to the fear of the unknown? Were we always seeking the valley and never the mountain-peak? Was this always our secret goal? Or did we fall somewhere, and hide thereafter behind a smile and a serious frown or the line in-between, shutting our eyes carefully so that the world would not be bothered much by the sight of the decaying of our most cherished dream?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BECAUSE OF SOMETHING MISUNDERSTOOD

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

Because of something misunderstood, although constantly seen, we fought; we fought against one another. Neither of us was killed in the intense battle, but our friendship died, brutally murdered by mistrust and injured vanity and faults unconquered in you and me.

There was a word we left unspoken. Would that one had spoken it all this time, would that we had broken down the barriers, the artificial barriers, yesterday.

One day too late, yet all we see are smiles. Is it a joke, or a word of comfort, or a tale, an apology, a ruse, poetry or a bridge? Like it was when we started, like it was, is. Secrets sleeping sleep on still in the sands beneath the sea, lapping up the shores of solemn promises that may never be broken, until the sands are wetted and the rigid stances have melted, lest we break.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

CONSCIENCE

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

Brave fool
You spoke the truth
Now it’s fallen off your shoulder

Breathe easy
When you look into the distance
Your eyes aren’t distracted by your thoughts

You see the observant trees
The bird minding its business
For your conscience is clear

Heavy is the hand that holds the knife
That strikes you down
Heavy is not thine heart. It is light.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SONG IN THE FACE OF HATERS

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Holding on to peace dream
While staring down
The barrel of a gun!

Staring down the gun!

The gun is trembling with fear
How many bullets are needed
To shoot down peace?

The gun bucks!
The clock stops!
Peace is my song.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

FINDING STRENGTH FROM INVISIBLE PLACES

~ Che

No one to talk to,
And no one to tell that to.

Drawing strength
From invisible places
Everyday.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BRAVE ONE

~ Che ~ 3 Comments

Your secrets
Give them power over you
When you lose your fear of your secrets
They lose their power over you

No-one is feared more
Than one who says yes I did it, so what?
You can break a warrior’s shell
But you cannot make the warrior fear you as well.

Breathe out, brave one, and live some more
Your weaknesses and your strengths are all you’ve got.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

COURAGE AWAKENING

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Shades of morning
Mantles of night ascending
Ghosts, like fears of the past,
Lay down softly to sleep at last.

Fear. Will whisper.
A thousand reasons to be a coward.
Until your inner man comes calling
The ground is so close
How come you’re still falling?

Beauty, soft kiss of dawn
Quietens you for a moment of tenderness
Before you shed your final skin
Of fear and pain
And stand up, never to crawl again.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

YOUR OWN NOVEMBER

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

Those trees
Changing leaves
Changing their minds
Turning times

Redressing time
But there’s an hour when
Fear leaves
Turned red

Fall yellow, weak, finished, all said and dead.
Then you change your mind too
After the thoughts are fallen
Your fearlessness stands naked hard in the bolding cold

Do you fear your own freedom, your own self-dependence?
Are you afraid of your own courage?
November strips the brave of their cowardice
And the cowardly of their bravery.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

A BUTTERFLY SHOULD LEAVE ITS COCOON BEHIND

~ Che

I love you Baby
But sometimes Love
Is not enough to make Lohengrin stay.

Don’t knock on the door
Of the Unknown, if you don’t
Want to be overtaken by the Unknown.

But if you must, you must
Even when the line you have crossed
Is the boundary of trust.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WRITE AND WRONG

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Writing for the Readership
Instead of for yourself
Following the Leadership
Ignoring yourself

Where will it lead you to?
When you get there
Vice in the Guise of Virtue
And Loneliness austere
And Amnesia won’t still your Longing
Still searching for a Sense of Belonging.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.